For Vilma Santos, V is for vlogging

Vilma Santos

Veteran actress Vilma Santos, who spent 24 years as a public servant, said she was happy to reconnect with her supporters through vlogging.

“I felt that I became disconnected from my fans when I chose to concentrate on being a public servant. While I was always in touch with the people I serve, I felt that I, as Ate Vi, became distant,” Santos said in a recent virtual interview.

“Now I feel as if I am able to communicate with them better through vlogging. I enjoy reading their comments. I now have more fans who are millennials and younger. A lot of them would say they knew of me through their moms and that they enjoy watching my vlogs. For that, I feel inspired to do more,” the vlogger said.

Santos said she first learned about vlogging when her son, Luis Manzano, and wife, Jessy, lived with her for two months during the pandemic lockdown in 2021. “For two and a half years, everything I did that’s work-related was just at home, via Zoom. When Lucky (Luis’ nickname) and Jess started vlogging, they would invite me as their guest. I was surprised because I felt excited each time,” she recalled.

She then asked his son to teach her how to vlog. “I told him that I want to be able to do it on my own. He helped me make a channel, and that was the start of it.” After only over a year, Santos now has over 480,000 subscribers on YouTube.

“I’m not starting any movies soon because of COVID-19. I’m still scared to get exposed,” said the 69-year-old, adding that she had just succeeded in battling the virus two months ago. “It’s vlogging that excites me today. I plan to give back the love to my followers in December when the channel gets monetized,” she declared. “I’m thrilled that I gained so many subscribers in just a year. This only means they love me and like my videos. I return the favor by making sure I upload videos where they can learn something from, ‘di ‘yong basta-basta lang.”

Immediate response

What she appreciates the most about vlogging is the immediate response she gets from her followers, said Santos. “Sometimes, comments number from 700 to a thousand. When I have the time or when I couldn’t sleep at night, I read them. I couldn’t respond to all, so I just react with a heart. I’m happy to get messages like, ‘It’s good to see you again, Ma’am,’ or ‘My mom watches you all the time.’ I feel like I was able to reconnect to my public, and that makes me really happy.”

In spite of her success as a vlogger, Santos is still conscious not to “overshare.”

“We know that we’re not supposed to believe everything we see on social media because fake news is found in all platforms. We also know that people create trolls to say negative things about others, to bash others, including children,” she began.

“I don’t upload vlogs every week like the others. If you notice, I sometimes go on for three weeks without anything new. Also, I only have very few ‘collabs.’ My videos are more about my family, my sons Lucky and Ryan (Recto). This is because I’m not a techie, and I just learned all these from my kids. They also taught me which camera to buy and how to manipulate my phone cam. I also have a laptop,” she said. “To my young supporters, don’t expose everything that you’re doing through social media. Listen to your seniors, for sure, you will learn something from us that you will be able to apply to your lives.”

Promoting good values

Santos continued: “I understand that technology is the future and that seniors like me should also try to keep up in order to bridge the gap between our generation and the young ones. But we should remember not to abuse social media. It’s still important that the videos we share promote good values—these are things we can’t do without.”

When asked if there’s any more that she prays to God for these days, Santos said: “When I pray, it’s just to say ‘thank you’ for all the blessings He has given me. If ever, I pray for good health, not just for my family, but of everyone. As a public servant, I became more aware of what’s happening around us. Getting sick is really the worst problem because not all of us have the means to buy medicine or get admitted to a hospital. Let’s stay healthy by following protocols, especially this holiday season.”